Joe Thomas spent a lot of time on losing teams and playing for a bad organization.
The 10-time Pro Bowler and six-time All-Pro left tackle spent his entire career with the Cleveland Browns from 2007-17. Never once did Thomas consider leaving the franchise that drafted him in the first round, no matter how many coaching changes, front office changes, and even ownership changes the AFC North club endured.
Needless to say, Thomas is siding Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson, and appreciates his attempts to hold chairman and CEO Cal McNair accountable.
“I am so happy to see that a player of his caliber with his leverage is finally holding his franchise accountable to things that they have promised that they were going to do for him,” Thomas said. “Because he’s held up his end of the bargain. I think for too long we’ve seen players as these pieces that are less important than the coaching and the general managers and these ownership sides of things, but when you look at it, is Deshaun Watson not easily the most important person to the success or the failure of the Houston Texans. Shouldn’t he hold his employers accountable in the same way they would hold him accountable if he wasn’t living up to his contract?”
Let’s hold players AND management accountable when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain… that’s merely what @deshaunwatson is doing, and I commend him for that. https://t.co/lfwuBhjtZV
— Joe Thomas (@joethomas73) February 5, 2021
McNair told Watson he would seek his input when it came to the hiring of the general manager and coach. Instead, it appeared McNair went with favorites of executive vice president of football operations Jack Easterby and hired his friend, Nick Caserio, as general manager and Baltimore Ravens receivers coach David Culley.
The top brass didn’t deliver for Watson, who signed an extension in September of 2020 that keeps him under contract through the 2025 season. Will his time in Houston be more of the same 4-12 seasons? Will they be content with AFC South titles and not playoff wins?
“So, I think it’s great he’s saying, hey, if you guys aren’t going to live up to what you say you’re going to do, then I’m going to go somewhere else because I have the ability as an employee to extract that leverage that I certainly have for being one of the youngest, greatest quarterbacks in the NFL,” said Thomas. “So, I love what he’s doing, and I think some of the pushback that he’s getting from some of the Brett Favres and the Dick Vermeils is they come from that old school mentality. They don’t understand how in today’s NFL how important a quarterback is to a franchise in 2021.”
McNair may not understand how significant that is either. On Jan. 29, Caserio has at least said the club has “zero interest” in trading Watson. Springtime will unfold whether the Texans keep their franchise quarterback and take a step back towards their expansion days from 2002-10.
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